Flooring



G. KAHR FLOORING Aug. 5, 1952 Filed Oct. 3, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet l G. KAHR Aug. 5, 1952 FLOORING 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 5, 1946 strips or veneers.

Patented Aug. 5, 1952 UNITED STAT-ES PATENT OFF-ICE f .'21,s0'5 ,51s.

Application October 3,1946, Serial Newman In Sweden OctohetlB, 1.945v

tween the joists may be filled with a. granular or fragmentary .material such as crushed coke.

zThe last-mentioned material does notprovide. a supporting suiifacexfor. thelfloor however, which .is therefore supported and carried exclusively by the. joists. On this: account the distance between the joists-,or the resistance of the boards to bending, or. theirthickness, must be so selected .thatthe boards are not subjected to any downward deflection by the. load on the floor. For

this; reason. relatively thick boards are usually employed and the-distance betweenv the joists must lik'ewise be. keptgrelatively short. The total quantityoftimber'in the flooring and joists will therefore be. :comparativelylarge;

Furthermore, the-'employmentofjoists laiddirectly on the .false ceiling :is: accompaniedv by the disadvantage that thesound insulation of the-false ceiling will be. relatively poor since sound, and particularly the sound of impacts, is easily transmitted through the joi'sts The present invention has for its object to provide .a cheap form'- of flooring whicheconomis'es in timber and which. possesses very good sound insulating,properties, and is characterizedrmainly by tha-t'the flooringis laid on sand .or a' similar mater-ia-l, as a supporting .foundation. As -the'fiooring; according to the invention thus'rests with the-whole of. its underside-on a compact wsand'. support the pressure .due to the :load onthe "floor will be distributed relatively .unitorm-ly overoa large area and'consequently theifloor-boards will'not. be subjected to deflection. The boards may therefore be made relatively whereby-1a considerable saving in timberis effected. :Qn-the-othe-r hand it is important thatthe flooring should lie as. closely as. Jpcssibleagainst the: sand foundation-win aniunloaded condition also, so thatno intermediate space is formed which mightggiverise to movementsof the flooring when it. is loadedtemporarily. For this purpose,: according to the invention, the flooring is-,.preferably made of. laminated boards which-consist, ina known. man- .ner, of two or .more layers .of Wood. glued together each of which :mayitselfbe made of Boards of this kind possess the property of retaining their 'flat form and furthermoreii they are. made 'suihcientlythin they mayih'ave' theprop'er'ty of; holding by their own weight Aa'gai'nstthe foundation over' practi'cally' their Wholesurface so that, they lie closely ,4 Claims. (ciao-.6)

against the foundation similarly .fto. a. carpet. Phe requisite flexibility of the flooring .or..fioor boards tor this purpose. may beiurtherincreased byproviding the strips composing the. lower strip layer of the boards with .a. transverse .cut across thefibres, .or by lformi'ng. the strip layer of relatively short strips; .Boards of this -kindwill, however, besufficientlystrong and stiff to permit themtoltake .up localpressure stresses without bending and. without deformation of the sand layer inasmuch. as the pressure .of the load on thesand. foundation. is distributed by the boards over a largerarea than the remainder of the floor surface on which the pressure .is acting. 'Ilo ensureithedistribution-of the pressure in this manner and. at-thesame time obtain close jointing-of the boards the latterarepreferablyprovided withztongues and grooves. along, their-longitudinal edges.

For the purposeof holding. the boards together in a transverse direction use fmay be made of joists as .for, ordinary floors, on .whioh'the boards are laid and nailed; whereby the thickness of the joists and/or the thickness of thesand layer must be. so adjusted however, that the joists do not lie directly on the fixed false ceiling" but rest on the. sand foundation similarly 'to the boards, Owing to the factth'at the floor is supported. over its whole surfacezby thesand foundation, these joists need not :be laid so close to one another as. in. the case of ordinary floors but-can be arranged'at a considerably greater mutualidistance-apart whereby the number of joists isreduced. "For'fioors' composed of laminated boardsrelatively wide'boards may be employed with advantage-inasmuch as a number of narrower boards may be combined with one another already during their manufacture, to form wider boards or slats; For this purpose it is not necessary to use long bars for the joists, and

the latter may take theform of relatively short bars, plates or blocks which are located transversely across the joints betweenadjacent boards or slats and to which the boards or slats are nailed or fixed by other means.

In consequence of the factthat the floor is separated-from the-fixed false ceiling by a layer of sand or thelike, effective sound insulation is obtained. In fact, a-laye'r of sand possesses very good sound-insulating properties, particularly with regard to the sound of impacts. As the joists are also-separated'from the falseceiling by a layer of sand no transmission of soundcan take place through the nails driven into the joists as is the case withordina'ry flooring laid on joists.

spectively show in plan View and cross-section different forms of construction for sound-insu.

latin joists and supporting plates.

In the floor shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the flooring is composed of laminated boards, which are laid.

on a supporting foundation 2 of sand or similar I,

granular material. The boards which are tongued are held together in a transverse direction by joists 3, two of which are arranged along two opposite sides of the floor surface whilst the remainder are arranged parallel with these at the same mutual distance apart. After the layer of sand 2 has been placed in position and smoothed over so that it has a level upper surface, the joists 3 are placed on the sand foundation whereupon the board are laid consecutively across the joists and nailed to the latter. The joists may consist of relatively thin ribs. In no case should they have a greater thickness than to allow a sufficiently thick layer of sand to lie between the joists and the fixed false ceiling 4 which usually consists of concrete. In some cases the joists may have a trapezoid-shaped cross-section and may be placed with the wider of the two parallel sides lying against the underside of the boards.

Fig. 3 shows in section an example of a laminated board which may be used with advantage in a floor according to the invention. The board consists of .an upper wearing surface 5 of parquette strips which may be arranged in any approved pattern but may also be so arranged that all the strips lie side by side in the transverse direction of the board, and an under-layer consisting of longitudinal strips 6 to which the wearing surface is glued. The .boards are provided with tongues 1 and grooves 8 formed in the strips 6 along the longitudinal sides of the board. To still further reduce any possible tendency to warping in the boards, th strips 6 may have longitudinal cuts 9 sawn in them on opposite sides. Such cuts may in some cases also be formed in the transverse direction of the strips. Owing to the fact that the whole surface of the floor rests on a compact sand foundation the boards may be made very much thinner than is possible when laying the boards on supporting joists in th known manner. To prevent the sand from penetrating into the cuts 9 the board may be provided on the underside with a covering of veneer or paper which covers the whole of the underside of the board.

In the form of construction illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 relatively wide boards or slats are employed. In the example shown each slat H] is composed of a number of narrower boards H which are joined to one another by tongues and grooves and are glued together in the grooves. To prevent the slats from being broken or injured during transport cross-bars 12, I 3 may suitably be mounted on the underside, which are fastened by nailing or gluing so that the slat receives adequate stiffening in a transverse direction. The cross-bars may either be arranged obliquely or in a direction at right-angles to the edges of the board, as shown in Fig. 4.

In order to facilitate the joining of the boards or slats, use may be made of screw jacks by means of which the boards can be pressed together at the sides, and which are thereby supported against one or the other of the two opposite walls.

In the form of construction according to Figs. 4 and 5 the joists may advantageously be replaced by wood plates or blocks [4 which are placed'in suitable numbers along the joints between the slats as shown in Fig. 4. The plates l4 serve in a similar manner to the joists 3 in Figs. 1 and 2 to hold adjacent slats together, for which purpose the slats are nailed to the plates or attached to them in some other manner. The plates l4 may be fixed to the slats while the latter are being manufactured. When laying the floor each new slat is joined to the preceding one by tongues. On the other hand it is not necessary to fix the new slats to the plates [4 projecting at the edges of the preceding slat. The said plates merely serve to partially reliev the tongued joints from the stresses at the joints.

The plates I4 may also be employed for holding adjacent boards together when the flooring is composed of single boards according t Figs. 1-3. They may also consist of iron plates provided with fixed pins which penetrate into the boards and hold them when they are laid over the plates and pressed against the latter by hammer blows.

In some cases it may be found suitable to use the joints as supporting members also, for which purpose they are placed in a known manner on the fixed false ceiling and the joists, together with the layer of sand laid between them, form the supporting foundation for the floor. In order to obtain good sound insulation, according to the invention, the joists are thereby composed of two or more layers laid over one-another, at least one layer of which consists of a material possessing sound-insulating properies, such as pressed wood fibre mass of the same kind as in the known wood fibre plates, whilst the remaining layers may be of wood. Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate a joist constructed in this manner. It consists of a lower, relatively wide strip or board l5 which is placed directly on the concrete foundation 4, with a narrower rib or strip I6 of wood fibre material placed above it and an upper bar I! of wood, to which the boards are nailed. The various layers are suitably joined to one another by glueing. For the sound-insulating intermediate layer It a highly porous wood fibre material may be employed with advantage. The latter may in some cases be replaced by felt or a similar compressed material, which possesses the advantage that by suitably adjusting the quantity of sand between the joists it is possible to ensure that the whole surface of the floor located between the joists will lie on the sand foundation in such a manner that the pressure load on the floor is taken up partly by the sand layer and partly by the joists. In some cases the arrangements may be such that the pressure load is only taken up to a slight extent by' the joists, the greater part being supported by the sand layer.

When plates or blocks are employed in place of joists, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, these plates or blocks may also be placed directly on the fixed As a filling compound for the false ceiling dry sand of ordinary composition may be used, such as quarts sand or sand of other kinds, or generally speaking, a granular mineral material which does not exhibit adhesion in a dry condition, or so little adhesion between the grains that the mass is easily deformed or levelled out under the action of pressure.

What I claim is:

1. Sound absorbing flooring consisting of a cementitious foundation, a horizontally confined layer of sand on said foundation and interlocked fioor boards floatingly and exclusively supported in their whole extension and with'their total weight by the sand layer, said boards being laminated and flexible and forming a flooring and lying by their own weight in direct contact with the surface of the sand layer and the said sand layer being substantially of a uniform thickness over the whole floor surface.

2 Sound absorbing flooring consisting of a cementitious foundation, a horizontally confined layer of sand covering the whole of said foundation and being of a substantially uniformly thin thickness, Wood ribs embedded in the sand layer and having their upper surfaces in level with the upper surface of the sand layer, and flexible, laminated tongue and groove matched wood boards nailed to the ribs and forming together with the ribs an upper flooring lying in direct contact with and supported in its whole extension exclusively by the sand layer.

31A sound absorbing flooring as claimed in claim 2 in which the boards consist of an upper wearing layer of parquette strips and an under 6 layer glued to the upper layer and consisting of longitudinal strips.

4. A method of laying a flooring on a lower foundation consisting in covering the whole foundation with a layer of sand of a uniform thickness, placing ribs of wood loosely on the sand layer in parallel rows extending along the whole flooring surface, levelling the upper surface of the sand layer and allowing same to dry, placing laminated boards on said ribs transversely thereof and nailing the boards to the ribs so as to form an upper flooring supported in its entire extension exclusively by the sand layer.

GUSTAF KAI-IR.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 114,895 Willet May 16, 1871 1,110,833 Smith et al Sept. 5, 1914 1,302,578 Murphy May 6, 1919 1,615,350 Tambone Jan. 25, 1927 1,811,250 Balduf June 23, 1931 2,491,498 Kahr Dec. 20, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 4,596 Great Britain 1886 323 Great Britain Jan. 7, 1892 210,968 Germany 1909 Great Britain Oct. 12, 1933 

